Thursday April 7,1994 Faculty Profile Champagne by Jen Colvin ColUgia* Staff After only his first year at Behrend, Dr. John Champagne is making changes. Among that list of changes, Champagne has helped add Contemporary Literary Theory and Practice to the list of classes. "The class makes people take a look at what they usually take for granted," he said. Not a requirement for any major, the class, according to Champagne, makes students examine things which are taken for granted by people and how those things move or persuade us. Such a thing may be a television commercial. “As if God created TV commercials, they (the students) will try to understand where TV commercials came from. Who first thought of a commercial? We want to account for this,” he said. But the class will not be easy. Champagne said that the only way to leant is to read. But the reading will be difficult. Students will have to spend much time reading essays and books very carefiilly. According to him, it is difficult vocabulary. It is almost like reading a different language. But Champagne said that everyone who is going further in the English field should take this class. Not only English majors, but philosophy and history majors should also consider taking the class, he said. SGA budget allocations receive mixed reactions The lack of groups present at the treasurer informational nights hurt many clubs" by Hal D. Coffey Ntwt Editor The 1994-95 SGA budget allocations were publically released at the senate meeting yesterday. Reactions ranged Gram shocked, to outraged, lo satisfied. In all, 47 of the 70 registered clubs and organizations on campus submitted initial budgets, while there were also 11 co sponsorship budgets. The total amount requested was $138,739.38 ($119,570.88 from initial budgets and 19,168.50 for co-sponsored budgets). That amount requested is up 31.4% from last year. As for actual money allocated, the budget committee only had $61,000 to allocate (up only $5,000 from last year). This means that 43% of the money requested was actually allocated. Compared to last year’s 61% of money allocated from initial mm initiates new class Photo toy Jen Cok/W Photo Coordtntdor Dr. John Champagne “You must know about literature theory if you are going on in these fields. The class takes a look at how things affect us today,” he said. An example of the type of authors the students will be reading is Frenchman Michel Foucault Foucault, according to Champagne, is a writer who takes firm ideas in society and turns them on their head. One book, “Discipline and Punishment” by Foucault, approaches the idea of prisons. “We (society) think prisons are more humane than public torture; but he (Foucault) says it's just more economical to manage,” said Champagne. This is the actual purpose of the class. The class is for students to approach firm ideas and understand where they came from, he said. Not only is he the teacher of the literature theory class but Champagne is also coordinator of budgets, this year's total is significantly tower. Sam Epps, Student Organization Council (SOC) Budget Committee Chairman, said the drop in percentage of money actually allocated is due to overestimation. "In general, requests were done very well, but the costs were very exaggerated," Epps said. The budget committee was made up of voting members Joe Mycka, SGA president; Darrin Sloan, SGA treasurer; Betsy Sauer, proxy for SGA Vice President Jason Demarte; and Ron Gray SGA senator. Epps voted only to break ties. Epps said the committee looked at several factors when considering allocations, including programming and fund raising. "As for programming, we looked at how the groups' programs affected Behrend students, how many attended and how much they coat," Epps said. the composition classes. In addition, Champagne teaches many literature classes. In his composition class. Champagne picks a theme for the entire semester. “I try to come up with a theme for the semester that helps the students become experts of sorts in an area,” he said. Champagne said he tries to extend the class into discussions which then refer to the area the students are familiar with. For this semester, Champagne chose the AIDS epidemic in his humanities class. “I thought with such a heavy theme many students would drop the class. But actually, only four students dropped the class and those four (dropped) because of the workload,” said Champagne. He added that he is very surprised at class attendance at Behrend. He said that attendance is very low. “You can’t learn if you don’t come to class. I don’t understand how people cannot come to class. But once the students commit to class, Behrend students are very generous. They challenge thinking and are anxious to participate,” he said. Before coming to Behrend, Champagne worked six years at the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, and Pittsburgh Rim Makers. Receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, and from Hunter College with Ms bachelor’s degree. Another factor, and perhaps the most confusing, is fund raising. One of the biggest reasons for the fund raising questions on the budgets was the poor attendance at treasurer information nights, Mycka said. For example, suppose a group needed $lOO for an event and another $lOO for a conference, and the group fund raised $5O. If they did not specify to where the fund-raising money should go, then the committee would take the cost of the two requests and subtract the estimated fund raising amount twice (sloo+loo - allocated). However, there is a way to obtain more allocated money when fund raising is factored in. “We stressed in budget training to state where you’re spending specific fund-raising money and subtract from estimated income,” Teryl Anderson, assistant director of Student Activities and a non The world comes to Behrend by Bridgette Jesek ColUgian Staff What makes people so timid about teaming of other people’s cultures? Most people feel out of place when surrounded by members of different cultures and then often turn away from learning about them. However, students had the opportunity to team about other cultures yesterday at the Cultural Fiesta which was in the Reed Building. The fiesta was sponsored by Student Affairs. “The more you team the more you will have in common,” said Jacquie Wade, coordinator of Residence Life and Human Relations Programs. Wade coordinated this year’s Cultural Fiesta. She has been involved in this event for two years. Wade was happy with the turn out, which was better than last year, and looks forward to next year when she hopes she cut organize even more tables. Such as, representatives of the rWnfta jnd Jjpfnwc. niltiMM Stacy Gordon, resident life coordinator, agreed with Wade on the point that a social and up beat atmosphere m * lr ** it for students and people alike everywhere to be interested in teaming shout other cultures. “Because we live hi such a multicultural world, but moat of us come from homocultural areas, it is important for cultural events to bridge those gaps,” Gordon said. Vicki Bellios, who has been supervising the Greek table for voting staff representative on the committee, said. Thus, our fictional group would receive $l5O because they specifically stated that the fund raising money would be used for die event or conference. Mycka credits the confusion over the low percentage of funds asked for actually being recommended for allocation on poor attendance at treasurer nights. “The lack of groups present at the treasurer informational nights hurt many chibs,” Mycka said. Co-sponsorships seemed mare favorable to the committee because of their diverse audiences. “Co-sponsorships were looked at first because they have a potentially mare beneficial effect on the students.” Mycka said. Now that die committee has released their recommendations, clubs may appeal their decision by a new method. four years, likes the idea of the Cultural Fiesta because “it gives cultures an opportunity to represent their own countries and to tell people all about it, especially young people.” One common attraction to her table was the food that she brought. “Food attracts everyone,” Bellios said. The Erie County Coalition for Indian Affairs was also represented. Annabelle Kader, principle chieftain, and Edward Livingston, vice chieftain of the coalition, discussed the importance of sharing their culture. Kader„ said, “People are surprised to know there is a large perantage of Native Americans living in the Erie area.” She continued, “The organization is an educational one. We can’t change history but we can toll people about it” Other countries that were involved were Malasia, Ghana, and Estonia. One group that didn’t represent a culture but had a table was Women Today. They have also been involved in breast cancer and AIDS awareness seminars. The Association of Black Cnltogiana and the Peace Corps also had tables. This year’s Cultural Fiesta was mare than the displays and food. It also included poetfy readings, Scottish bagpipe music, Greek Orthodox church dancers, and for the finale, Jambo, an African contemporary music band from Pittsburgh porfomed. - Joe Mycka At next week’s SGA senate meeting (Wednesday, April 13), organizations may suggest to Senate that certain clubs have their budget allocations cut In order to do this, clubs must look at the other clubs’ budget allocation requests, which will be held in a three-ring binder that may not leave the SGA office. They can then bring up a suggestion for a cut at the SGA meeting and the senate will vote on it When all cuts are made, the money will be pooled and reallocated to clubs and organizations that request it at the meeting. All decisions will be made by the senate. The meeting will be held at 5:15 pjn. Wednesday, April 13 either in the Reed Seminar Room or the Reed Lecture Hall depending on the number of people who attend. Page 3
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